Ending the Year

I know...I haven't blogged in forever! The end of the year crept up on me and I don't think I slept at all last week. But I'm back.... and I'm on summer vacation. I absolutely loved my little people, but hallelujah and Praise the Lord I don't have to get up at 4:30 am and I don't have to pick up my babies from sitters and school.
I'm so sad though, because that whirlwind week also meant I totally forgot to take pictures of my end of the year gifts and such. I gave my sweet babies sand buckets full of summer fun, like bubbles, yoyo's, clappers, pool toys, etc, as well as my Summer to Second Grade pack. Gotta keep those kiddos thinking. I also sent them home with a DVD of our first grade memories. It got rave review from our parents. I created my slide show with iMovie and iDVD. I created the movie in iMovie and then sent it to iDVD to finish it up and make it look professional.

I used three songs in my video:

We're Going to Be Friends by Jack Johnson

Better Together by Jack Johnson

Let them be Little by Billy Dean (This ended the DVD and the tears flow)

We also ended our week with my Dollar Store Superlatives. Oh My Goodness! Did my kiddos get a kick out these. They were so excited to see who got what. Each one of them was over the moon to get a prize with their award and they were so proud!

And I have the sweetest of first grade families ever! Not only did I get these beautiful flowers and candy but I also received gift cards galore. Two very sweet mommies collected money for a salon/spa gift card and Disney gift card for our upcoming trip.

And other families just knew how much I love to eat! :)

I hope you all have a great end of the year. I know these last few days can be hard. Here is a freebie to give your little people something to do as you put away the books and take down the bulletin boards. I blew ours up to give my kiddos plenty of room to write. There are kindergarten through fourth grade version included. The graphics are provided by Melonheadz and Moffatt Girls.

Hi Michelle, Thank you for sharing your Dollar Store Superlatives! I also do an end of the year DVD and I take TONS and TONS of photos. I found an app Fotor where you can make your own collages and save them as one picture. This way I was able to use all, well, almost all, of my pictures of my kiddos in my DVD without it being an hour long. Have a great summer!!!

Love it! I also make my kiddos a DVD every year and am a little obsessed with using Jack Johnson. My "tear up" song is "Smile" by Uncle Kracker...it gets me everytime! I really want to do superlatives next year. This year I was running on so little sleep I just had to cut something out!

Happy summer break! I started mine the other day and already feel so much more well-rested!

Sara...so easy. You literally hit share with iDVD and it opens. You pick a theme. I did the sunflower. You add a title for the chapter so they can click it to play the dvd. And then hit burn. The first one takes about 30 minutes to process and then each one after takes about 2 minutes. Or you can open them movie in a new playlist on iTunes, and burn it from there too. :)

Let them Be Little...the best song ever for EOY DVD's, it touches those mommy heartstrings. I had no idea there were Disney gift cards. If you need any Disney ideas just let me know. I live just an hour away and have been SO many times. It's the best place to take little ones. Enjoy your trip.TammyPrimary Paradise

I love Jack Johnson! Cute freebie! I am having a “Tour My Blog” linky party...stop by and link up! It is a great way for bloggers and their viewers to learn about your blog! I would love for you to join me!

Hi! I purchased your Dollarstore Superlatives and gave them to my class! I, as well as them, LOVED it! Thanks for creating them! I mentioned your creation on my blog: http://oneyearinaflash.blogspot.com/2013/06/end-of-school-year.html

Welcome back you have been missed. Yay, for summer vacation! It looks like you have really made an impact on these kids and that is the most wonderful thing. You are such a wonderful teacher please keep up the good work.